The commission members favored land owned by Colonel John Hinton across the Neuse River, but the night before the final vote, the committee adjourned to the home of Joel Lane for an evening of food and spirits.

They had been frantically trying to transport their remaining supplies and wounded by rail westward toward the final Confederate encampment in Greensboro.

Kilpatrick used artillery on the heights overlooking Morrisville Station and cavalry charges to push the Confederates out of the small village, leaving many needed supplies behind.

Several days later, the two generals met at Bennett Place near Durham on April 17, 1865, to begin discussing the terms of what would become the largest surrender of the war.

As a result, most of Wake County features gently rolling hills that slope eastward toward the state's flat coastal plain.

The county, at the National Weather Service in Raleigh, receives on average 7 inches (180 mm) of snow in the winter.

Freezing rain and sleet occur most winters, and occasionally the area experiences a major damaging ice storm.

Fifteen miles of the trail is located in Wake County and is open to pedestrians, cyclists, equestrians (in non-urban sections), and other non-motorized users.

The commissioners enact policies such as the establishment of the property tax rate, regulation of land use and zoning outside municipal jurisdictions, and adoption of the annual budget.

Their majority lasted only two years due to several controversies including a student reassignment plan, and Democrats retook control of the board in 2011.

In the 1998 Senate race, John Edwards won in Wake County, which helped him defeat incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth.

In 2002, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Elizabeth Dole defeated Democrat Erskine Bowles with 55% of the vote in Wake County, and won by a large margin statewide.

[52] Wake County's economy is heavily influenced by the Research Triangle Park (RTP), located between Durham and Raleigh.

RTP is the country's largest industrial park and a primary center in the United States for high-tech and biotech research, as well as textile development.

[54] Wake County's industrial base includes electrical, medical, electronic and telecommunications equipment; clothing and apparel; food processing; paper products; and pharmaceuticals.

The agriculture industry is visible in rural areas of the county, with tobacco, cotton, wheat, soybeans, and corn being the most common products grown.

SAS Institute, one of the largest privately held software companies in the world,[55] is located in Cary, and Raleigh is home to the headquarters of Fortune 500 retailer Advance Auto Parts.

Other major companies based in Wake County include A10 Networks, Verizon, 3Dsolve, Carquest, Butterball, Cotton Incorporated, Epic Games, Lord Corporation, Lenovo Group (U.S. headquarters), Tekelec, Red Hat, Golden Corral and Martin Marietta Materials.

In 2007, Forbes magazine listed Raleigh and Cary among the best cities to find jobs in the United States,[56] as well as being the area ranked as the best place for business and careers.

[59] On April 26, 2021, Apple Inc. announced that they would build a $1 billion hub in the Wake County portion of the Research Triangle Park.

It is expected to house a 1,000,000 square foot facility and hire more than 3,000 people with a minimum average salary of $185,000 per year.

North Carolina Bicycle Route 5, the "Cape Fear Run", connects Apex to the coastal city of Wilmington.

Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Garner, Wake Forest, Zebulon, Knightdale and Wendell each have one library facility.

The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts complex houses the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium, the Fletcher Opera Theater, the Kennedy Theatre, and the Meymandi Concert Hall.

[70][71] The museum is currently hosting a special exhibition of contemporary installation art called You Are Here: Light, Color, and Sound Experiences.

The National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes franchise moved to Raleigh in 1999 from their temporary home of Greensboro, after having departed Hartford, Connecticut, in 1997.

The Hurricanes are the only major league (NFL, NHL, NBA, MLB) professional sports team in North Carolina to have won a championship, winning the Stanley Cup in 2006, over the Edmonton Oilers.

The Research Triangle region has hosted the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA) Nationwide Tour Rex Hospital Open since 1994, with the current location of play at Raleigh's Wakefield Plantation.

North Carolina State University, which is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, plays their home basketball games at the PNC Arena and home football games at Carter–Finley Stadium.

The football team won the 2014 Men's Junior Championship in North American Gaelic Athletic Association competition.